Welcome back to my travel and ministry blog! I appreciate your company as I walk the path in Australia in 2024. On my return to Woonona NSW where Jon, Angela and Evie live, I was happy to see that they have made a welcoming home in the townhouse/unit into which I had helped them move last year. This time I felt “at home” in Woonona – like this is my home in Australia when I’m here, not just a place to visit. It’s on the east coast, just north of Wollongong, about an hour’s travel south of Sydney, and is a beach town.
As soon as I had dumped my bags in the room I’m sharing with Evie, the whole family took off for an afternoon at Woonona beach, a mere block and a half from the house. After dinner we played a very adapted game of croquet on a field close to the beach. For the first several days, Jon, Angela and Evie wanted to show me some of the places they’ve enjoyed near Woonona. There was a reptile show at Evie’s preschool. Evie gingerly held a crocodile, as well as other reptiles, and I triumphantly overcame my fear and held a constrictor python. We also toured her completely outdoor, nature immersion preschool. There are several of them throughout Australia. Our next trip was to the Cascade Falls in the Macquarie Pass. A fun and sometimes challenging hike took us up to the waterfall, where I stood under a cascade of water for the first time in my life, and swam with an eel!
